@Jazee wrote:The other thing I failed to mention about the Discover is they take your total cash back for the first year and double it, NO LIMIT. I did some calculations and would easily exceed the $200 bonus offer from Chase as even the minimum 1% reward will be 2% for the first year and the 5% for the rotating categories will then be 10%. Pretty attractive to the cash reward card enthusiasts.
I did this too. I spent over $26k on credit cards last year. Even at the 1% (2% first year), that would be a $520 reward, or $260 over the usual 1%.
If I were to hit the max of $1500 spend each quarter in the bonus categories, it could be $1000 rewards in the first year, or $500 more than normal. That's a heck of a SUB! I have no idea if my spend this year will be more or less than last year now that I have the Disco. Last year was weird. Like most people, I travelled less and went out less than normal, so I'm sure I saved some money there. On the other hand, I had about $5k of unexpected expenses pop up. So maybe it's a wash? I never tracked credit card spend before, so I don't know if last year was more or less than normal for me.
@Anonymous wrote:I would go with Disco. Apping them and then looking for Chase probably won't pay off as Chase is the jealous lover of the credit world. They don't like seeing other cards apped at the same time as theirs.
I'm pretty sure that was my mistake when I applied for the Chase Freedom Unlimited a few days after getting approved for the Discover it Cash Back early last month. I didn't know any better at the time. I mean I knew that the second bank would see that HP and probably the new account from the first bank, but I didn't know much about Chase specifically.
Starting Score: EQ8 680, TU8 713, EX8 701
@Jazee wrote:Bottom line question is:
If I'm borderline qualifying for Chase Freedom Unlimited but already have a Discover It prequal, if I can't get a prequal on Chase should I skip applying to Chase and only apply to Discover?
You can stop reading there if you already have the answer. If you want full history....
According to the various credit reporting tools, two of the reasons for a negative effect on my score is too few accounts, and high utilization. These are the easiest to "fix."
I've got my utilization down to 20%. I got approved for an Amazon Store Card 4 months ago. The only other account I've opened in the past 5 years is an auto loan. I have only three hard inquiries in the last 2 years. 2 of the 3 will be over a year old in two weeks. One of those was getting denied for the Amazon Chase Rewards card about a year ago when my scores were in the 650-670 range.
About a month ago I got a pre-qual offer in the mail for Discover it with 13.99-15.99% APR. I estimate my scores when they did the promotional soft pull for that offer were between 690-720 depending when they pulled and which agency. A few days after that I tried a pre-qual for Chase Freedom, I honestly can't remember my scores when I tried the Chase online prequal but got no offers but I'm pretty sure I was low 700's, nothing over 720.
So my main intention is to increase my total credit. I'm possibly getting some in-home gym equipment which may increase my credit utilization after getting a new card so interest rate comes into play but I could use my Amazon Store card for that. I'm not a big spender so micro-analyzing the difference in rewards is not #1 priority but still a consideration. Discover It and Chase Freedom Unlimited/Flex both have good rewards with Chase edging out Discover overall so it would be the preferred card from that aspect. HOWEVER, I'm 99% sure the Discoer APR is going to be 7-10 points lower than what Chase would give me based on reading at least a hundred approval post on this board. The extended warranty and cell phone protection from Chase is highly attractive though.
So here's the conundrum... My scores now are about 15 points higher than they were when I tried the Chase prequal a couple months ago and they are going to go up a little bit more in a week or so when my utilization goes down from around 20% to closer to 16%. Depending on agency and score type, I'm expecting I'll end up in the 725-740 range.
If I try the Chase Prequal again and get no offer, should I still apply, risking adding a hard inquiry and getting denied? Because then if I went to Discover as a backup, my score will have taken a hit due to the hard inquiry possibly affecting what Discover gives me as far as credit limit and APR.
Or should I "play it safe" and if I don't get anything back from the Chase Prequal online application, skip Chase and just go for the Discover? I guess the question is, is the additional hard inquiry from a denied Chase app going to make a differnce on Discover's decision/terms? (Probably impossible to predict?) One thing that attracts me also to the Discover is I hear it's easier to get a credit line increase from Discover than Chase.
What do you experts recommend I do?
First, and this is my opinion only, prequals are not necessary when apping and depending on them because one thinks thats a surefire way to get approved is off base imho. You might miss out on some wonderful cards or approvals if all you do is wait for prequals. Ive never been prequaled for any of my cards, except my last Navy card , which we know is bubkiss
, and ive done ok. Dont get me wrong, getting one can be a great feeling and indicator .
Second , what exactly does your profile look like right now. Score, hps on each bureau, aaoa, how many credit cards do you have, loans etc. To me Disco is a nobrainer for anyone just because i feel its an excellent card not only for rewards but it gives ones profile a feel for reaching that next level , especially those coming from the Credit Ones and such.
Best of luck on your choices 
They're in the same Chase card family and card tier, so the UW standards should be the same.
